Above: Standing water taken in March from abandoned tires in Orangetown to be examined for mosquito larvae. / Ricky Flores/The Journal News

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| A Journal News editorial

Ronald Schoenfeld during a Nov. 19 session with physical therapist Judith Shih at his Mamaroneck home, as he works to regain mobility during his recovery from the West Nile virus. / Matthew Brown / The Journal News

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“It’s hard to believe all this can happen because of one little mosquito,” says Ronald Schoenfeld, who continues to heal from a harrowing battle with West Nile virus. (Read about his diagnosis and recovery on LoHud.com) “But it can,” the 73-year-old Mamaroneck resident told staff writer Jane Lerner, “You have to take this West Nile virus seriously.”

When West Nile virus was first detected in the Northeast in 1999, county governments in the Lower Hudson Valley did take the threat seriously. Rockland, though, has reconsidered its role in West Nile prevention. The county executive’s 2013 proposed county budget eliminates the mosquito control program, saving an estimated $770,000. It’s among many deep cuts as the county deals with a $96 million-and-growing deficit.

Abatement programs

Considering the cost of the disease — the mosquito-borne illness can be fatal — the rather low-tech abatement programs remain worth the cost. Westchester and Putnam plan to continue their abatement programs.

If Rockland’s towns, school districts and other jurisdictions pick up the program, property taxpayers will still pay the tab, just on another line of their tax bill. And the expense is likely to grow exponentially, with overlapping training and staffing causing redundancy. That point was proven in past iterations of Rockland’s attempts to skirt paying for mosquito control duties, floated in 2009, 2010 and 2011.

The county backed off those earlier efforts, amid public pressure. What’s different this year? Rockland’s deficit is approaching 14 percent of the total county budget. The county’s bond rating hovers above junk status. The Rockland Legislature, often eager to restore cuts in the county executive’s plan, will have to find a way to pay for the program, with real and reliable revenue or cuts elsewhere.

Meanwhile, West Nile remains a threat. Rockland’s first confirmed case of West Nile was documented this year, in a 50-year-old who likely contracted the illness in early September. In 2012, the region and the nation saw an uptick in mosquitoes detected with West Nile, and a more aggressive breed, the Asian tiger mosquito, was also detected here for the first time. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 229 people died from West Nile this year, five in New York.

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Against that backdrop, USA Today reported in August that the swell of West Nile this year, predictions of warmer, wetter summers to come and continued cutbacks in local government budgets worry the experts. Mosquito control programs work, said Michigan State University entomology professor Edward Walker. He cited a 2002 examination of data comparing West Nile virus levels in Michigan counties that had mosquito control programs to those that didn’t. “If you lived outside of the mosquito control area, you had a 10-fold elevated risk of getting West Nile virus,” Walker said.

Joe Conlon, an entomologist and technical adviser to the American Mosquito Control Association, has called West Nile “a pernicious disease” that costs much more for medical treatment than for general prevention. “It’s a case of ‘pay me now or pay me later,’” he told the Editorial Board during a 2011 interview.

What’s that cost? Ronald Schoenfeld, who was in a coma after the mosquito-borne virus caused encephalitis, continues his long recovery from West Nile. His family at one point took out a home equity loan to pay for a medical evacuation flight to get him home when he fell ill during a trip to Canada. He is still visited by physical, occupational and speech therapists who are helping him regain strength that was sapped by the illness.

He still can’t drive and tires easily. Quite evidently, it is an ordeal the government is rightfully charged with helping us all avoid.